Microsoft Surface Tablet’s 32GB Version Will Have Only 16GB Free Space

When Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced the pricing and storage options of the Surface tablets, it received praise considering that the entry level model comes at a minimum of 32 gigabytes. This storage space is twice of the low cost model that iPad comes with.

However, now it has been revealed that 32GB version of Surface tablet comes with only 16GB of free storage space, the remaining half is taken up by the Windows RT OS, Windows recovery tools, Microsoft Office, and the built-in apps.

Surface owners will need to use this internal disk space to install apps. There are some other options available to expand the storage space such as using cloud storage, SkyDrive, microSD card or USB flash drive. These mediums can be used to store music, photos, videos, and other content, but those who are thinking to rely much on the internal storage space will need to be cautious. You can’t drop in too many high def movies or your entire music or photos collection on the internal storage.

Talking about the 64GB Surface model, it comes with only 46GB of free space. Both the models actual free space is far more less than as advertised. Also Windows RT is a stripped down version of Windows 8, but it still consumes a large space on the disk.

Well, surely owners of Surface tablets will feel that Microsoft has cheated them, although this was not intentional. It would have been great if Microsoft would have clarified about the “actual free space” available to users, instead of the hard disk space. Microsoft has also prepared a chart explaining where all your space goes.

Do you think that it is too late for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) to clarify it now? Do you think it is perfectly fine to get only 16GB space on a 32GB device? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.